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Newsletter June 2020 - Issue 6 Volume 8 HAWAII’S PORTAL TO SPACE Newsletter www.pacificspacecenter.com June 2020 - Issue 6 Volume 8 UH Team Awarded $500K by NASA to Letter from the Director Develop CubeSat Kits for Students Rodrigo Romo Aloha kākou, On May 30th, SpaceX made history by becoming the first commercial company to launch astronauts to the International Space Station. Millions of people around the world watched as two NASA astro- Above: team at University of Hawaii at Mānoa will nauts were sent to space from the U.S. CubeSats, a class receive $500,000 from NASA to design for the first time since 2011—and for the of nanosatellites, A and develop a fully functioning small satellite first time ever aboard a SpaceX vehicle. use a standard- The SpaceX Falcon 9 booster that took ized size and kit and course for undergraduate students as form factor. They part of the Artemis Student Challenges. The NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and were developed project will develop a 1U cubesat and include Douglas Hurley on a trajectory to meet as a cost-effec- a lesson plan with lectures, labs and hands-on the ISS returned to Earth with a perfect tive platform for landing on a drone barge. education and hardware and software development. space explora- “This topic is not typically taught and further, a It is difficult to comprehend what tion. Image cour- spacecraft lab course is extremely rare,” Prin- SpaceX has accomplished in such a tesy of NASA. cipal Investigator Dr. Frances Zhu wrote in short period of time. The recovery of the project proposal. “By reinforcing the theo- their reusable booster rockets almost retical curriculum with direct ties to hardware, seems routine now, though this feat of students can truly engrain the subject matter engineering seemed nearly impossible learned from a conventional classroom setting, 18 years ago when the company was a feeling so often felt in classes solely based first founded. on lectures.” Just a few days before the SpaceX The project will commence in two phases. launch, Virgin Galactic attempted to launch Launcher One, a small liquid fuel @PISCES_Hawaii > Continued on Page 3 > Continued on Page 5 Economic Development · Workforce Development · Applied Research Page 1/5 www.pacificspacecenter.com Newsletter June 2020 - Issue 6 Volume 8 SpaceX Successfully Launches Two NASA Astronauts to International Space Station ASA and SpaceX are celebrating a Nhistoric launch completed May 30 that successfully brought two U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station aboard a commercial space craft. The mission, dubbed NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2, was the first crewed commercial flight ever sent to space. Astronauts Robert Behnken and Doug- las Hurley launched inside a Crew Dragon spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center’s iconic Launch Pad 39A aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, taking to the skies after a previous launch attempt three days early was scrubbed due to weather concerns. About 19 hours later, the crew caught up with the ISS where they docked and were welcomed aboard after depressurizing their spacecraft, marking the successful comple- tion of the first half of their journey. “I’m really quite overcome with emotion on this day,” SpaceX Founder Elon Musk said during a news conference following the launch. “It’s hard to talk, frankly.” when the Space Shuttle program was retired, Above: A SpaceX The Demo-2 mission is a critical final test NASA has been relying on rides aboard Falcon 9 booster to prove SpaceX’s crewed systems for regu- launches two Russian rockets to the tune of $90 million astronauts aboard lar use by American astronauts. Since 2011, per seat. a Dragon crew In about four months, Behnken and Hurley capsule from will depart the ISS to return to Earth, complet- Kennedy Space ing the final leg of their mission and proving Center on May 30. Left: Astronauts whether Crew Dragon is ready for routine Robert Behnken operations. and Douglas The next Crew Dragon mission is sched- Hurley inside uled to be the first operational flight and will Crew Dragon. Credit: NASA carry four astronauts including three from NASA and one from JAXA. PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL SPACE CENTER FOR EXPLORATION SYSTEMS Page 2/5 www.pacificspacecenter.com Newsletter June 2020 - Issue 6 Volume 8 Cont: UH Team Awarded $500K by NASA for Satellite Kit ... Left: Students, faculty and staff for the Artemis CubeSat kit project attend a kick-off meeting via Zoom last month. (L-R): Amber Imai-Hong, Frances Zhu, Miguel Nunes, Chris Amendola, Danielle Young, Kasey Hagi, Skyler Konno, Mitchell Matsumori-Kelly, Yosef Gershom and Kevin Williams. > Continued from Page 1 Below: Anatomy of Phase 1 will see the hardware and software nity colleges throughout Hawaii that place the Hiapo 1U, the development of the kit including onboard emphasis on Native Hawaiians and other first community-built satellite assembled computing, RF communications, sensors, underserved groups. by students working a basic infrared camera and an electrical The project’s team includes Dr. Zhu, Am- with Hawaii Space power system. The cubesat will include ber Imai-Hong, Yosef Ben Gershom, Kasey Grant Consortium software for telemetry, software visualiza- Hagi, Dr. Miguel Nunes and Dr. Trevor So- (HSGC) and the tion and development—and all for less than rensen. Phase 1 of the project began May 1 Hawaii Space Flight Lab (HSFL). $5,000. Phase 1 will also focus on develop- and will continue through the end of 2020. A Courtesy photo. ing an online lab course for the kit. Students group of three students are being recruited around the country will have access to a to assist in the project and will present their standardized aerospace design program research findings at the Undergraduate Fel- with online support—a lowship and Traineeship Symposium. rare opportunity for under- Several institutions are partnered in the graduates. Phase 2 will project including multiple colleges in the UH include the development system and in Washington state, PISCES of a classroom and online and the Native Hawaiian Science and Engi- spacecraft mission design neering Mentorship Program. course using the kits. An NASA has awarded a total of nearly $2.4 additional component of million to universities as part of the Artemis the project will focus on Student Challenges, a new initiative to in- outreach, bringing exten- spire the next generation of astronauts who sive workshops to commu- will explore the moon and beyond. PISCES Hawaii · [email protected] · +1 (808) 935-8270 Page 3/5 www.pacificspacecenter.com Newsletter June 2020 - Issue 6 Volume 8 Preparing for a Long-Term Human Presence on the Moon Left: An artist rendering of Masten Space Systems’ XL-1 lunar lander which is slated for a Moon landing in 2022 carrying cargo for NASA. Courtesy image. By: Matthew Kuhns, Chief Engineer - Masten Space Systems n December 2022, Masten’s XL-1 lander is minimize the amount of regolith and dust I scheduled to land on the Moon, carrying displaced during launch and landing. payloads for NASA and other commercial PISCES has been working to mitigate this customers to the lunar South Pole. As part risk by developing landing pad pavers made of NASA’s Artemis program, the purpose with sintered Hawaiian basalt. Hawaii’s of these experiments is to collate localized, basalt is similar to lunar regolith and can be concurrent data sets from the lunar polar used as a regolith simulant. PISCES teamed region in advance of human missions to up with Masten earlier this year to test one the Moon. This mission is one of the first of its designs using a Masten rocket engine. Below: A static steps toward building a foundation for public/ This work was done in support of a NASA rocket fire test private partnerships that will establish a Phase I SBIR and the Plume Surface Inter- by Masten using sustainable and long-term human presence action group. The results were extremely a PISCES-built sintered basalt on the lunar surface. encouraging, demonstrating good resis- tile for launch and One of the risks posed by lunar landings tance to plume effects and erosion durability landing pads. is the plume cratering and ejecta kicked up for high velocity and high temperature plume Courtesy photo. by vehicle engines during descent. Large impingement at approxi- engines can dig deep craters and throw mately 25% of the surface ejecta up that can damage the vehicle or heat flux value experienced even make it to the reaches of lunar orbit. during the Apollo land- With the Artemis program using larger land- ings. This test data will help ers than the Apollo missions, this is a prob- PISCES and NASA develop lem worth studying as humans head back to improved designs which the moon in 2024. One way to make land- one day may be used on the ings safer is by using landing pads, which Moon. PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL SPACE CENTER FOR EXPLORATION SYSTEMS Page 4/5 www.pacificspacecenter.com Newsletter June 2020 - Issue 6 Volume 8 2020 AstroDay in East Letter from the Director Hawaii Goes Virtual > Continued from Page 1 he 19th annual AstroDay event in Hilo Twas postponed last month due to lock- downs to prevent the spread of COVID-19. But like many people adapting to the new normal, organizers created a modified event online using Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. Virtual AstroDay featured three weeks rocket that takes off from the underside of a modified Boeing 747. of activities, presentations and lessons Unfortunately, there was a problem with the rocket’s motor and the by volunteers who posted videos shot launch was not successful. Nevertheless, it is encouraging to see from home where many are working re- private companies continuing to advance impressive technologies motely.
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